The Effect of Ego Network Structure on  Self-efficacy in Engineering Students

David Myers; Matthew Currey; Luciano Miles Miletta; Darby Rose Riley; Kaitlin Mallouk

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Student Division Technical Session 5: Self- Efficacy
Tagged Division: Student Division (STDT)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/48092

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Darby Riley is a doctoral student of engineering education at Rowan University. She has a special interest in issues of diversity and inclusion, especially as they relate to disability and accessibility of education. Her current research is focused on the adoption of pedagogy innovations by instructors, specifically the use of reflections and application of the entrepreneurial mindset. Her previous research experience includes examination of implicit bias in the classroom and application of VR technologies to improve student engagement. Darby hopes to pursue a career in STEM education and educational research.

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Kaitlin Mallouk Rowan University orcid.org/0000-0003-4367-1165

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Kaitlin Mallouk is an Associate Professor of Experiential Engineering Education at Rowan University. Prior to beginning that role, she spent five years an Instructor in the Mechanical Engineering and Experiential Engineering Education Departments at Rowan.

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Abstract

Engineering students’ self-efficacy—a self-judgment of capability in a given field—is an accepted predictor of college success. Many factors affecting self-efficacy have been identified in previous research, such as positive performance in classes, practical experiences, and access to mentors. Previous studies have also found that many of these factors are, in turn, affected by aspects of students’ social circles, namely homophily and social capital. Students with more homophilous networks (that is, networks with greater similarity between the student and the people in their network) tend to demonstrate higher in-class performance and may feel a greater sense of belonging in engineering as a whole. Homophily most typically explores similarities in gender and/or race: non-male and non-white engineering students see people similar to themselves less frequently and therefore have more to gain by making social connections with people of the same gender and/or race. Social capital also plays a vital role in friendships and education, affecting social outcomes and academic achievement, including improved grades, test scores, and overall performance. Social capital is a measure of the resources a student has access to within their social network. For example, a student who has friends performing higher than themselves or friends further along in their engineering education can leverage these friendships as resources while studying for exams or working on a final project. This study aims to draw a direct connection between students’ social lives and their engineering self-efficacy by answering the following research questions: 1) What is the relationship between homophily and self-efficacy in engineering students? and 2) How does the number and quality of friendships of an engineering student relate to their self-efficacy? A survey was distributed to engineering students at a mid-sized, MidAtlantic University that included Marra’s 2005 self-efficacy instrument and also asked about participants’ quality and quantity of friendships with fellow engineering students. The survey found that the number of studying friends yielded the highest self-efficacy scores among engineering students, while factors such as GPA, gender, and major homophily had little to no effect on engineering self-efficacy.

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Myers, D., & Currey, M., & Miletta, L. M., & Riley, D. R., & Mallouk, K. (2024, June), The Effect of Ego Network Structure on Self-efficacy in Engineering Students Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/48092

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Engineering students’ self-efficacy—a self-judgment of capability in a given field—is an accepted predictor of college success. Many factors affecting self-efficacy have been identified in previous research, such as positive performance in classes, practical experiences, and access to mentors. Previous studies have also found that many of these factors are, in turn, affected by aspects of students’ social circles, namely homophily and social capital. Students with more homophilous networks (that is, networks with greater similarity between the student and the people in their network) tend to demonstrate higher in-class performance and may feel a greater sense of belonging in engineering as a whole. Homophily most typically explores similarities in gender and/or race: non-male and non-white engineering students see people similar to themselves less frequently and therefore have more to gain by making social connections with people of the same gender and/or race. Social capital also plays a vital role in friendships and education, affecting social outcomes and academic achievement, including improved grades, test scores, and overall performance. Social capital is a measure of the resources a student has access to within their social network. For example, a student who has friends performing higher than themselves or friends further along in their engineering education can leverage these friendships as resources while studying for exams or working on a final project. This study aims to draw a direct connection between students’ social lives and their engineering self-efficacy by answering the following research questions: 1) What is the relationship between homophily and self-efficacy in engineering students? and 2) How does the number and quality of friendships of an engineering student relate to their self-efficacy? A survey was distributed to engineering students at a mid-sized, MidAtlantic University that included Marra’s 2005 self-efficacy instrument and also asked about participants’ quality and quantity of friendships with fellow engineering students. The survey found that the number of studying friends yielded the highest self-efficacy scores among engineering students, while factors such as GPA, gender, and major homophily had little to no effect on engineering self-efficacy.
AU  - David Myers
AU  - Matthew Currey
AU  - Luciano Miles Miletta
AU  - Darby Rose Riley
AU  - Kaitlin Mallouk
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - The Effect of Ego Network Structure on  Self-efficacy in Engineering Students
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/48092
ER  -

The Effect of Ego Network Structure on Self-efficacy in Engineering Students

Paper Authors

David Myers Rowan University

Matthew Currey Rowan University

Luciano Miles Miletta Rowan University

Darby Rose Riley Rowan University orcid.org/0000-0001-9973-8635

Kaitlin Mallouk Rowan University orcid.org/0000-0003-4367-1165

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